Last modified: Wednesday, August 15, 2007 11:41 AM PDT News Digest: IDAHO — Many Idaho schools fail to make the grade COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho (AP) — School districts across Idaho are getting poor grades when it comes to helping students improve test scores, according to a report from the state Board of Education. Out of 626 public schools in the state, just 167 made ‘‘adequate yearly progress,’’ during the 2006-2007 school year, according to the report. The AYP scores are based on the results of the Idaho Standards Achievement Tests taken earlier this year. OREGON Oregon gasoline price falls 6 cents PORTLAND (AP) — Gasoline prices in Oregon are down again. The AAA reports the statewide average is now at $2.79 a gallon, down about six cents over the week. It’s the lowest Oregon price since mid-March. The organization’s spokesman, Elliott Eki, says refineries are selling off their summer fuels in advance of the conversion to winter blends, holding prices down. He says prices are likely to move upward as Labor Day approaches and demand increases. The Oregon price is about 25 cents a gallon lower than it was a year ago. THE NATION Mattel recalling more Chinese-made toys over lead paint, tiny magnets WASHINGTON (AP) — Polly Pocket and Batman have joined Elmo, Big Bird and Dora the Explorer on the list of toys too dangerous for children. Mattel’s Polly Pocket play sets and Batman action figures, along with Barbie and Tanner play sets and ‘‘Cars’’ movie items were among more than 9 million Chinese-made toys recalled Tuesday over concerns about lead paint and tiny magnets that can be harmful if swallowed. Appeals court rules in Hanford downwinders’ case YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) — In a sweeping ruling Tuesday, a federal appeals court overturned a judgment in favor of a woman who had sued contractors at the Hanford nuclear reservation for causing her thyroid cancer, but opened the door for three other plaintiffs to get a new trial. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco also upheld a lower court’s ruling dismissing the defendants’ claims that they were immune from punishment because they were government contractors. Since 1990, more than 2,300 people have sued over health problems they believe were caused by exposure to radioactive emissions from south-central Washington’s Hanford site over the years. The downwinder cases are largely based on the release of iodine-131, a radioactive byproduct of nuclear weapons production. A judge dismissed six of the 12 initial ‘‘bellwether’’ cases. In 2005, juries rejected four more during two trials. Just two people, who suffered from cancer, won damages totaling $544,759 against the government and the contractors that managed the federal site at the time. The appeals court on Tuesday overturned the verdicts against three plaintiffs, Wanda Buckner, Shirley Carlisle and Kathryn Goldbloom, who suffer from hypothyroidism, a condition that slows the body’s metabolism. The district court erred in ruling that the plaintiff’s endocrinologist could not testify that he authored articles on I-131’s effect on thyroid cells, because it deprived the jury of testimony from the doctor about the extent of his expertise regarding causes of thyroid illness, the appeals court ruled.